Dogs and Jackals
by NephthysAmaya
Summary: Travel back in time to Malik's childhood. Malik is bored and nobody wants to play. Whatever will he do?


_Disclaimer: I don't own Yuugiou. Now let us die of shock!_

_Author's note: This is set in the tomb when Malik is a child, long before his tenth birthday. And 'Dogs and Jackals' was an Ancient Egyptian board game. They recently found an ancient board in a tomb. Seemed appropriate._

"Rishid, come and play!" Malik demanded, stamping his tiny foot. Rishid shook his head.

"Later Malik, I'm afraid I have several duties to attend to first"

Malik had spent all day bored and whinging. Isis had gone…..he didn't know where but she'd definitely gone. Rishid was busy. Father wasn't an option. Malik had read every book the Ishtars owned, even the ones father said were dull and pointless. Read them, read them again and pretty much memorised the lot. Now he was bored, and Rishid was going to come and play whether he liked it or not. Malik slumped forward into the dust on purpose to make him feel guilty. Nothing. "Charming" Malik thought.

Rishid nodded and turned back to preparing lunch.

"Please come and play" Malik whined. "I'm so bored!"

"I'm afraid I still have a lot to get done," insisted Rishid. Malik rolled over in the dust and started kicking his little legs. Rishid ignored him.

Malik got up and hopped over to his friend. "We can play that game where one person hides and the other one has to find them. Or the one where we throw the ball to each other. You like that game!"

"Malik, I'm afraid I really can't at the moment. Later, I promise" Rishid heaved a sigh of relief as Malik finally ran off and he could get back to cooking. He started humming to himself as he worked.

"Here you go!" Malik squealed as he raced back in. Rishid groaned, trying his best not to feel annoyed. Malik shoved a board into his hands. "Lets play Dogs and Jackals! We played it before and you said it was fun!"

"Just let me get done and I promise we can play in a little while Malik," Rishid sighed as he put the board to one side.

"I want to play now!" Malik demanded. "Who wants to do boring old work when you can play? Play! Play! Play!" Malik was jumping enthusiastically up and down and waving his arms in the air. Rishid gritted his teeth and got back to working.

"I'll tell father if you don't play with me" Malik pouted.

Rishid looked worried. "Okay then Malik" he murmured. "We'll play the game where one person hides and the other one goes to find them. You can hide!" Malik's eyes lit up with joy as he raced off to find a hiding place. Rishid sighed. He was slightly surprised at himself for ignoring Malik and then lying to him, but his plan was to get his cooking done and then go and find Malik hiding under the bed where he _totally_ didn't know Malik hid every single time he played Hide and Seek. Yes, Malik was a very bright child but at the end of the day, he was still a child. He carried on cooking, feeling rather pleased with himself.

Malik was running as fast as he possibly could. Where to hide, where to hide? There were so many places. He snuck into his room, gingerly lifting up the sheets. Peeking around, he grinned and darted underneath the bed. He reminded himself to stay very quiet so that nobody would find him. He rested his head, tapped his fingers on the floor, and he closed his eyes for lack of something better to do. His head was hazy and he soon drifted off.

Malik woke up and he looked up to see the edge of the room from underneath the bed. He yawned. How long had he been down here? He had to admit, Rishid was really bad at this game. He never seemed to find him. Malik dragged himself out from underneath the bed and got on his feet, stretching his arms. Then he saw Isis. "Sister, you're back" Malik cried. Isis glanced around and nodded when she saw him.

"Indeed Malik. Why aren't you under the bed? I thought you were playing hide and seek."

"Rishid didn't come and find me" Malik sighed. "Will you come and play, sister?"

Isis shook her head.

"I'm afraid not," she said.

"Please" he whined.

"No." And that was that. Rishid he could wind up. Isis, he could wind up as well but it would usually put her in a grumpy mood and Malik was in the mood to be happy. He bounded off.

The torchlight dancing on the tomb walls cast his shadow onto it. Malik ran up to the wall, poked his shadow and ran back again. He giggled when he saw how the shadow appeared to be trying to hide from him. He ran up to the wall again. Once again the little shadow shrank away. After a while, he grew bored of this so he sat in the dust, trailing his fingers along, drawing pictures in it. He had to guess how a lot of the things, which he'd only read about in his books, looked. Things like buildings, which he imagined to be a gazillion cubits tall and possibly to have pincers. Or like animals that had catlike heads and plump bodies with a thousand legs. And other children, who were the same age as him. He decided he didn't like drawing anymore and quickly kicked the dust over, blanketing his drawings and making sure they would never be seen. He lay down in the dust and started drifting off to sleep again.

Malik felt his nose being tickled and he sneezed slightly as he opened his eyes. A bug had crawled up to him. It was a big deadly looking thing, and it scuttled horribly. Malik reached forward and picked it up, spending a moment watching its legs thrash desperately. He stared it in fascination. "You can be my friend!" he grinned! The bug gave up thrashing its legs and lay limp. It had probably said to itself "Why bother?".

Malik was thrilled with his new buddy. He set it on the ground and watched it scuttle off, delighting himself with chasing it for a little while. Then it disappeared under a wall. Malik leapt onto the ground and shoved his hand into the gap underneath said wall, trying to find his friend. Nothing. Malik swore loudly.

"Malik! Where under Ra's green earth did you learn language like that?" Rishid had shown up out of nowhere and looked extremely horrified. Malik's lips twisted into a grin.

"Lets just say I learnt it from you Rishid. Now do as I say or I'll tell father."

Rishid sighed. That Malik could always wrap him around his little finger. "Fine, fine" he mumbled.

Malik clapped as he ran off to get the Dogs and Jackals board. Something told Rishid that that kid was going to end up getting his own way a lot someday.


End file.
